Hardheadded
by Samka1992
Summary: Our boy Ope's got a hard head, right? Maybe, just maybe, he could have been saved? Post 5.03 Opie/OC
1. Prologue

**AN**: Guess who's back? Back again...No it's not Slim Shady...It's MEEE! :p

Been a long-ass freakin' time my friends! Real life and all of the fun shit. I don't even have time to get caught up with SOA! Last episode I saw was one in early season 4 :O I have however seen some clips here and there and seeing Opie getting killed just may have emotionally crippled me. I love Ope, so I'm rectifying the idiotic-ness that is him getting killed…

But like I said, I have no idea about SOA anymore, so canon is pretty much gonna get shit on, just flow with it, peeps!

**Rating**: Floating in between T and M

**Pairings**: Opie/Anna, Jax/Tara, (rest is undecided)

**Summary**: Our boy Ope's got a hard head, right? Maybe, just maybe, he could have been saved? Post 5.03

* * *

"OUT OF THE WAY!"

Dr Anna Connors heard the loud, kind of panicky shout from inside of her infirmary in the state penitentiary she had been working in for just about three years now.

The door opened with a loud CLANG and four of the prison's guards were carrying in what Anna called a bear-sized man, who looked like he had in fact been in a fight with a bear (and lost) …and then got run over…by an 18-wheeler.

"Jeezus Christ, what the hell happened?" Melanie, one of the nurses who was doing inventory of the medical supplies until a second ago, asked. Ther was pure shock written al over her sweet, round face.

"Opie Winston, got jumped , " one of the guards told them simply, while basically throwing the man on one of the tables. They weren't exactly gentle with that man, Anna noticed, frowning

"By what? A dinosaur? Anna asked while getting to work, listening to her new patient's chest.

"Anna, the back of his head!" Melanie shouted, the nurse had been checking his pupils with a tiny light when she noticed what was basically a huge hole in the back of his head.

"Fuck! Apply pressure on that!" Anna told her, while hooking him up on a nifty machine that would inform her of all of the man's vitals

"Shit! His vitals are crap! Get me an intubation-kit! " Anna yelled at her nurse while taking over the already bloody towel on his head and checking the biggest visible injury that the inmate seemed to have.

"Jesus, what did they do to you, Winston?" Anna muttered and applied some more pressure, hoping to at least stop the bleeding.

In what seemed like five minutes, but was really only like 30 seconds, Melanie came back with the intubation-kit and they switched places again. Anna grumbled, case like this, they should have more manpower working! She had been begging for more nurses, but the warden and his lackeys seemed to think they were doing fine with just the two of them…greedy assholes!

With professional skill, Anna had her patient intubated in less than five seconds and started providing oxygen, something the man was severely lacking.

* * *

Anna was exhausted…just exhausted. The bags under her dark-chocolate eyes seemed to be more prominent then this morning and the tiny bit of make-up she was wearing was pretty much smeared all over her face. Although she was only 29, the tired and weary look made her at least five years older, if not more.

With a sigh she let herself fall in the leather chair behind her wooden desk, letting her head fall in her hands.

Letting her long hair out of their clip, Anna tried to ease the tension-headache that had been brewing since Opie Winston got carried into her turf.

By some miracle, they had managed to save the big, burly inmate. It was a goddamn challenge though. The man's heart had stopped at least two times on her table. He was still critical, Anna 'strongly suspected' major skull-fracture and she would be shocked if he didn't have any hidden internal bleeding at least somewhere. But he was stable…for now.

As soon as they could, they had him transferred to the nearest hospital for further care. It was safe to say Anna didn't have the equipment in this shithole to help him further.

"That guy has got to be Wolverine!" Melanie came into the office and tiredly fell into another chair.

"Say what?"

"I just got called to fix up the FOUR guys that attacked Winston. They may have almost killed him, but the man did some goddamn damage before he went down! I have no idea how it all played out, but I suspect he was actually kicking their collective asses at least at some point in that fight."

"Seriously? Four guys?" Anna asked, wide-eyed and her nurse nodded.

"Why would they do that?" Anna sighed when Melanie shrugged, having no idea

"I hate prison, why didn't I just listen to my father when he told me to find myself a nice, normal job in a private clinic?" Anna groaned, her question rhetorical.

"Because you hate your father and this was your way of sticking it to him?" Melanie tried

"Oh…right"

"Besides," Melanie continued "You wouldn't have met me in some private clinic."

"True that! But still, as much as I love ya, I could still do without prisoners trying to kill eachother, at least not untill I have the equipment to actually save their asses." Anna noted

"Dream on, bitch, the warden is so greedy it wouldn't surprise me if he re-uses his toiletpaper." Anna actually figured that it wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

"Anyway, shift is over, nightnurse is changing into her scrubs, so I'm officially done!" Melanie continued.

"Yeah, I'm almost done too, got to finish the paperwork on Winston and then I'm out too!"

"Okay, don't work yourself to long, you hear me?" Anna just waved her off.

Standing up, Anna walked over to the little sink and looked at herself in the mirror, again.

'Time to get this shit off!' she thought while wetting a towel, ridding her face of all the traces of make-up. After that, she put her hair back into it's clip and took off her heels. Goddamn things made her look professional and definitely helped hiding the fact that she was only 5'1, but that did not take away the fact they were in fact a creation of the Devil himself.

Sighing, she sat back down by her desk and pulled the file of one Opie Winston towards herself. Even though she told Melanie that she would be out soon, she could not kid herself…she was in for a pretty long night….Oh well, nothing new there

* * *

**Yes, there is a female-doc working in the male-prison …It happens! (Just look at Prison Break).**

**Remember what I said about real life? Well, it's still happening, so I have absolutely no clue when the next update is gonna be. I just had this thing in my head, and it needed to be written.**

**It's been a long time since I've written, so pardon my English if it sucks :p**

**Oh, and if anyone wants to catch me up on why Opie(and the rest) was in prison in the first place, and why he got killed and other shit, please do pm me or something , I would really like to know….**

**I love you, please tune in next time!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Yayyy! Thanks for the follows guys! Also special thanks to aussitrueblue for reviewing and elbeewoods for pm-ing me with some info…**

**Okay, info on this chapter:**

**1) No idea how old Ope's kids are, I figured Elly to be around 9 in the first season and I just (mis)counted up and made her 13**

**2)No clue if they were in Stockton or some other prison, so we're just gonna go with Stockton here :p It doesn't really matter anyway**

**3)Pretty sure I can't do Ope justice (he's a tiny bit to OOC for my liking) **

**but euhhhh, on we go…**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

4 weeks later...

"I don't get it...Why would he hide a screw up his ass? He had to know that shit would rip him open right?" Anna was walking the hallways of Stockton State once again, going over what may be the most insane case she ever had, with her trusty sidekick Melanie.

Some idiot had come with the genius idea to hide a pretty long screw up his asshole, trying to smuggle it to his cell. Only it didn't work and he quite literally ripped himself a new one.

"I don't even wanna pretend that I understand the shit that goes on in the prisoners heads, that shit's just scary," Melanie told her and Anna honestly couldn't blame her. But she guessed that it was just that that made Anna fit in into this place, the fact she was able to understand the minds of the prisoners…well, most of them, she did NOT understand the man with a screw up his ass though.

"Hey, don't we know that guy?" Melanie pointed to the glass door that allowed them to look at the visitors-reception.

They had a pretty good view of an hu-normous, longhaired guy with an pretty long beard. The leather cut on his back telling her he was a biker for the Sons of Anarchy, a motorcycle club which actually frequently graced them with their presence. They didn't usually use the visitors-door though.

"He does look familiar," Anna nodded and tried stepping on her toes to get a better look (she had left the heels at home today, her feet had somehow started to lose feeling in their little toes).

"Holy shit, is that not the guy who was almost bludgeoned to death?" Melanie asked and a lightbulb sprung on above Anna's head.

"I think it is! Damn, he looks pretty damn good without the blood!" Melanie continued. No need to tell her that Anna actually figured he looked pretty damn good, even when he was covered in blood too, right?

"Good to see him still alive, I've always wondered how he was doing" Anna mentioned and led her friend/colleague back on their way, back to the infirmary.

"Tell you what, It's dead here anyway, I'm gonna get us some coffee, maybe some lunch that isn't crap," Melanie told her and Anna couldn't not allow her go…Prison coffee sucked! Anytime either of them had a prisoner-free moment, one of them headed to the nearest coffee-place.

Putting her butt in her trusty chair, she looked over some charts on her desk, praying her friend would be back soon, or she just might not survive...

* * *

It was about five minutes later when somebody knocked on her door. It turned out to be one of the receptionists. A creepy bald guy nearing fifty, he always seemed to be checking her out.

"You have a minute, doc? You have a visitor," he told her and Anna nodded, eyebrows high upon her forehead. Who the hell was visiting her? Her confusion disappeared when she saw a tall, burly but –oh-so-very-handsome biker-dude in her door.

"Hi! Come in! Winston right?" Hoping she had remembered his name right, that would be embarrassing.

"Opie," he nodded.

"Anna," she introduced herself . "Take a seat, gotta say you look a lot better not leaking brain out of your skull," Anna told him honestly and Opie chuckled deeply.

"So, what can I do for you," she asked. The sight of him, such a big guy on one of her ridiculously breakable plastic chairs was almost laughable.

"Just came to visit a friend of mine, I figured I should come by, thank you for saving my life and all that," Opie told her "also, my daughter baked you cookies, she'd kill me with one of her stuffed animals if I didn't actually deliver them."

He took his backpack and got out an enormous plate of chocolate chip cookies, sort of giftwrapped in transparent foil being hold together with a big-ass, blue bow.

"Your daughter made me cookies? I don't get it, she doesn't know me," Anna was kind of confused now.

"My best friend may have opened his big mouth and told my kids I would have been death if it wasn't for the prisondoc. She decided she just had to bake you cookies, and God help me if I didn't get them to you" Opie informed her seriously and Anna burst out laughing at his facial expressions.

"Aww, that's sweet!" Anna honestly appreciated that.

"Yeah, well, don't say anything until you tasted them. She's 13 and I'm pretty sure this is the first thing she baked in her life, no idea what came out of that," Opie said.

"They look pretty damn good, though, so can't be that bad," Anna smiled while taking off the card that was taped to the bow.

"_Thank you for saving my daddy's life! Love Ellie. _Aww_! _Pretty sure she's might not like me so much in three years when daddy won't let her go on that date she wanted."

"My daughter is not dating until she's thirty," Opie casually informed her, looking absolutely and completely serious.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, big guy…On a serious note though, how are you? "

"Getting there, slowly, it took a long-ass time to heal. I'm just glad I remember my last name again." He replied honestly.

"Amnesia?" she asked

"Yeah, that and a skull fracture, concussion, three broken ribs and about 120 stitches. Memory came back quickly though, thankfully."

"Seems like you had a shitty month," she noted and Opie nodded.

"Yeah, could have been worse though, could have been transferred back here, thank god our lawyer got me some decent bail. Or I could have been dead." Opie said, a look on his face telling her he had thought about that last bit a lot.

"Good thing you're not, think your daughter wouldn't have sent me cookies if you were," Anna said lightly, trying to cheer him up a little.

"Probably not…But still, I was supposed to die you know, I was honestly ready for it…Thing is, I didn't even think about my daughter… or my son…or my mother…They've buried so many people already in the last few years…Never even thought how that would have affected them." Opie sighed deeply, the weight of the world obvious on his shoulders. This whole thing was kind of weird because it was obvious Opie was not a talk-about-feelings/inner thoughts- kind of man

Anna honestly really didn't know what to say to that, so she did what she did best. She opened the foil around her cookie plate and took one to offer Opie.

"Cookie?" she asked a hopeful look upon her face. A look that, so she'd been told, was adorable and would always make you smile.

It worked! Opie chuckled softly and smiled while taking the cookie.

"Seriously though, I owe you my life, you ever need anything me or the club can help with, you give me a call, okay?" he said seriously, placing a little piece of paper on her desk, while biting the cookie.

He stood up, clearly ready to leave so she did the same. She shook his hand, ignoring the warm sensation it left her hand with.

"I'll remember that," she smiled softly.

"Good…And don't eat those cookies, that shit's horrible. I think she used salt instead of sugar."

Anna just burst out laughing and waved her goodbyes to the biker. After he was gone from her sight she turned around with a big smile and swiped the little white paper off her desk. In some form of chicken-scratch it told her "Opie" and a cellphone number. Was it wrong to hope she would actually need that number someday…preferably soon?

And where was Melanie with her Goddamn coffee anyway?

* * *

TBC...

Please review? I'll give you one of Ellie's cookies! Oh wait...nevermind...just review will ya!

Love all of ya!


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

**Thank you all so much for all the follows/favourites! For the story to only have begun, I'm quite proud to have my own (realy) tiny fanbase *huggels all of ya*This chapter is a little thank you…It's kinda short but I haven't had much time to sit down and write so I'm still quite happy to have something for you. **

**Until now, I didn't realize what a difficult character Opie would be to write for. He's just so complex and he's one of the few people I have no idea of what's going on inside his head…Ultimately though, he's still Ope, and one of his best traits is the fact that he's all about family (don't matter if it's his brothers in the club or his children, Ope's a family-man)**

**So I hope I did him some justice…Let me know your thoughts! **

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Opie Winston had seen and done a lot of shitty things in his life, most of them somehow club-related.

He was a big, tough guy, quite literally the son-of-a-goddamn-bitchy asshole and he could deal with pretty much every prick getting in his face (almost four pricks at the same time,…he was getting there, thank you very much!) but he could not…simply was unable to… simply refused to deal with another batch of his daughters cookies.

Ellie had really taken to the cookie-business, making piles and piles of all sorts of cookies…But it didn't matter if they were chocolate-chipped or peanutbutter-smeared, they all tasted the same…like putting a handful of salt in your mouth…without any tequila.

It was probably Opie's own damn fault too. After he came back from visiting Otto…and the pretty prison-doc, Ellie had asked him what Anna had thought of her cookies. Poor Opie, not being able to crush his daughter's spirits, had told her they had been delicious…resulting in a mountain of salty cookies in his kitchen.

"You know what Ell, how about we just watch a movie together tonight?" Opie asked, hopeful.

"But I wanted to make some more chocolate-swirled cookies for you to take to the guys at work tomorrow," Ellie told him and Opie smiled. He had lucked out with his baby-girl, he got one of the good girls…Unlike Tig and his bitch of a daughter. Ellie was always thinking about other people, a trait that was no doubt all Donna.

"Nah, those idiots don't deserve your cookies, baby girl, just go get your brother and we'll watch a movie when I'm out of the shower, okay?" Opie kissed her on the forehead and made his way to the bathroom, a sweaty mess.

Who's idea was it to wear long sleeved t-shirts, a leather jacket ànd a letter cut in California anyway? He needed to thin out his goddamn wardrobe…or at least ware less of it at the same time.

Ridding himself of his clothes and about a hundred pounds of rings, Opie stepped into the shower, letting the lukewarm water spray his body.

The person that invented the shower deserved a goddamn medal in Opie's mind. There was nothing quite like a good spray-down after a long, hotter-than-hell kind of day.

Wrapping a towel around his middle when he got out, the tall and burly biker took a deep breath while gripping his hands around the sink, when he was suddenly blinded by a flash of pain.

"Jesus fucking Christ," he moaned as he grabbed the back of his head.

Even though the big-ass gape in his head had mostly healed up pretty nicely (stitches would finally be removed next week), he still got the occasional flash of pain, which usually left him with a headache of top notch-quality for the rest of the day.

But all in all he could deal with that…It were the nights that were unbearable. The nightmares, crawling into his sleepy brain, never letting him sleep for more than an hour, maybe two. They were all the same: he was back in the cage with those four assholes. But this time, he wasn't surviving…he could hear Jax and Tig screaming for him, but he was always just so tired…tired of fighting, tired of living.

Another nightmare that frequently passed was one of a funeral, his, to be more precise. He was laying in this coffin, his brothers around him, paying their last respects, to tough to cry, but some still blinking back tears. He would see his daughter and mother crying, the dead look in his sons eyes.

Opie shivered when he came back to reality, rubbing his large hand over his tired, weary face. All of this just had to stop. Sure, sooner or later he'd be dead. He had made peace with that when he patched in. But apparently it wasn't quite his time yet. The reaper wasn't quite ready for him yet and sent a guardian angel to save him.

Anna… Lately he had been visiting his buddy Otto just a little more than usual, always finding some time to say hi to the sweet doctor. Opie didn't quite know what his fascination with her was, maybe he was just overly grateful to be alive still?

She was cute too, Opie concluded. A fresh face, without the enormous loads of crap the usual crow-eaters always seemed to slather their faces with. Long, brown hair slightly curly and a pair of deep, chocolate brown eyes that just always seemed to understand what he was talking about. She had this sweet, light parfum-y sent that was something so unlike all the heavy perfumes he was used to in the clubhouse, from the heavy shit old ladies, crow-eaters, even just the strippers always seemed to shower with. He wanted to smother his pillow with that scent, he was absolutely positive it would help lull him to an actual sleep. One thing about her, Opie appreciated the most though: she was able to hold a decent conversation, no sucking dick involved. Something that was rearly found in the women in the life he lived (Tara and his mother and Gemma being an exception)

Not to forget she had a pretty nice rack too, Opie mused with a grin, putting his gazilion rings back on.

* * *

TBC...


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.**

It was late, like reallly late. The moon was shining through the still open window in the Winston residence, TV still glowing blue from a played dvd that hadn't been turned off yet.

Opie Winston was fast asleep, feet up the table (Donna would probably be turning in her grave, knowing that) and snoring lightly while his daughter was down on a pillow in his lap, his son safe and secure in his arms.

The sharp sound of his ringtone woke him up abruptly though and feeling like an alien, he felt around in his pockets for the annoying thing.

""Y'ello?" he managed to grunt out.

"Opie? Hey, it's Anna, I'm really sorry to wake you up, but I really need some help," the sweet voice of his ex-prisondoctor had him up and awake fast enough.

"What's wrong?" he asked, softly taking Ellie from his lap and placing her on the comfortable, yet really fugly couch.

"I'm stuck just outside of Charming and I've got nobody to call, my engine just poofed," Anna answered

"Poofed? Is that the technical term now?" Opie asked her, teasingly, hearing her sigh.

"I have no idea, it just…poofed, and then there was smoke and…"

"Where you at? I'll come and get you" Opie replied easily.

"Really? Thank you!" Anna almost squealed as she gave him the address.

"Just sit tight, lock your doors, kill your lights. I'll be there in five minutes," with that Opie hung up.

Softly he lifted up his son and took him to the boys bed, repeating the same step with his daughter. After closing down all the windows and doors (his kids were old enough to spend half an hour alone, should they wake up, but safety first, therefore locking the place up like fort Knox), he made way to his bike.

* * *

"Thank God! This place is spooky!" Anna breathed out when Opie parked his bike next to her old beat-up chevy.

"Thank God is right, this is one of Darby's cook-shops," Opie informed her with an aditude, like she should know not to be there at this hour in the night.

"Who and cooking what exactly?" the doctor asked, naively.

"Never mind, let's get you out of here, hope you're okay with the bike," Opie handed her a spare helmet.

"Guess we'll see, I've never driven one before," Anna told him, putting the helmet on her head, making sure it was tight.

"You just hang on tight, basically. You live close by?" he asked and Anna shrugged.

"Up in Stockton, about three miles off from the prison."

"Yeah, fuck that, that's an hour and a half drive, and it's three in the goddamn morning. Your ass is staying at mine." Opie informed her.

"Say what now?" Anna asked, surprised.

"Seriously, I'll take you there tomorrow and I'll come and take care of your car. But right now I'm sleepy, grumpy and my kids are home alone, so get your ass up this bike and let's roll,"

"You have an unnatural obsession with my ass, you know," Anna pointed out, climbing up behind him, trying not to fall over and fall on her face.

'If only she knew just how much," Opie grinned while he felt her arms wrap around him.

* * *

It took Opie all of seven minutes to return to his house. He could have done it in half that time, but seeing his passenger was a newbie to all things motorcycle, he decided to take it easy. Besides, he found it quite interesting having a woman on his bike again, it had been a long, long time. Donna never liked riding the bike and Lyla, well, she usually drove the kids around.

"That may be the coolest thing I've done since hanging upside down on the monkey bars when I was seven," Anna told him, excitement clear in her voice.

"You lead a sad, shitty life, woman," Opie told her, even though he sounded really serious, she could make out a small smile in the little bit of light she got from a streetlamp.

"Tell me about it," Anna sighed.

"Okay, let's get inside, if I'm lucky I might actually catch a few hours of sleep."

"I'm really sorry, Opie, it wasn't my intention to wake you up," she told him "although I didn't actually thought you'd be asleep already, figured you'd be at some party or something."

"Nah on a regular Monday night, handsome, bad-ass bikers like myself fall asleep watching Frozen," Opie mentioned and Anna snickered. They were walking up the porch to Opie's blue front door.

"Seriously?"

"Yip, Ellie's choice today, might luck out and get to watch Transformers or something tomorrow," with a soft click Opie opened the door and switched on the hallway light.

"Tell you what, I'll take the couch, you can take my bed for now," Opie was now talking a little less loud now, knowing his son, a light sleeper would wake up if he heard to much noise.

"I can't kick you out of your own bed, Ope, couch will do nicely for me," Anna protested, not knowing if sleeping in his bed would be a good thing for all the bats currently flying in her stomach from just being near to him.

"Woman, do not argue with me, okay? Let's get you a shirt or something," Opie lead the way to his bedroom.

Standing in the doorway of Opie's bedroom, Anna watched said biker toss around in one of the drawers of a big, dark wooden dresser. She wasn't exactly comfortable just walking in to the man's room.

"Here you go, might be a little big, but it's clean, unlike a lot of other stuff," Opie handed her a little pile of fabric.

"Thank you, are you sure you don't want to sleep in your own bed?" Anna was still a bit uncertain about it all.

"Nah, I'm good. You need to be up at a certain time?" Opie asked, wanting to know if had to get up early to bring her home.

"No, it's my day off tomorrow, all depends on what time you want me out of your house," Anna smiled.

"Guess we're sleeping in then, we'll see about your car after I get my kids to school," Opie said and Anna nodded, grateful.

"Good, now, bathroom is right across this room, I'll be in the living room which is literally down the stairs and through the door." Opie told her, and after wishing her goodnight he walked out of the room, leaving her on her own.

Anna just sighed and looked around her, feeling uncomfortable yet completely comfortable in, what was technically still considered, a strangers' bedroom. Did that even make any sence? Anna just shook her head and made her way to what Opie told her was the bathroom.

* * *

**TBC...**

**So…Today's my birthday! Yay for me! To celebrate I wanted to give you guys a little gift… It's pretty short and I'm not totally happy with it, but…mehh, you'll get over it :p  
**

**So, for the sake of me and my birthday, please leave a review!?**

**Love you guys!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Dad! Daddy, wake up!" Ellie Winston was trying her best to wake up her big lump of a father as silently as possible, but it just wasn't happening. She shook his shoulder, pinched his nose, pretty much anything she could think of.

"Huh, wha's ha matther?" Opie grunted, looking at his daughter with a groggy look.

"There is somebody in our kitchen! I think someone broke in!" Ellie said, totally freaked out, Opie just laughed.

"You think a burglar would be cooking in our kitchen at…7 in the morning?" Ellie just frowned, she did indeed smell something nice. And her father had a point, people breaking in probably wouldn't stop to make breakfast.

"What do I know? Kenny is still in bed, you are here, so who is in our kitchen?" she asked, slightly frustrated.

"Probably just Anna, she called me this night, her car was broken so I just let her sleep here," Opie informed his daughter, who still looked confused.

"Oh, Good morning! I thought I heard voices!" a bright, cheery voice came from the now open kitchen door.

Standing in front of them was Anna in a pair of black leggings and Opie's blue "Fear the Reaper"-shirt he had given her last night, which considering the fact Opie was about as big as a tree, was a tiny bit big on her. She was barefoot and was still rocking the bedhead. She was also holding a big orange bowl in one hand while whisking something in it with the other.

"'Morning!" Opie yawned loudly and Ellie just giggled at her father, he just looked silly yawning.

"Ellie, that's Anna, she's the prison doctor, remember? You made her cookies?" Opie tried and saw a look in his daughters' eyes, signaling she knew who he was talking about.

"Of course I remember! Hi!" Ellie excitedly went over to the woman and wrapped her arms around her, not only shocking the shit out of Anna, but also Opie, who got used to his daughter being extremely closed off since her mother died. Her hugging strange people was defiantly a weird moment.

"Thank you for saving my dad," Opie heard his daughter whisper and his heart seemed to squeeze tightly…The grateful reaction of his children to him NOT dying was so extreme… God only knows what would have happened if he had actually kicked the bucket that day.

He was slowly starting to see the effect his life and the deaths in it had on his children and he could honestly kick himself for not seeing it sooner, for not being there for them. While he was busy retaliating, closing himself off from the world and all it's people, his kids were traumatized by loss. And he had done shit to take care of them, always passing them off to his mom, to Lyla, Tara, Gemma, … basically everyone was taking better care of them the Opie was…That shit was going to change, Goddamn it!

"Oh you're welcome sweetheart, but I really didn't do that much…except stop his brain from leaving his head and all, maybe help him breathe a little …" Anna really hoped that wasn't the wrong thing to say, Ellie was still a child after all, would her doctor-ish talk traumatize her?

"Still, If you hadn't done that, he'd be dead, so thank you!" Ellie smiled so big Anna couldn't help but smile back. Opie went up and wrapped his arms around his daughter, trying to offer some kind of comfort. Even though she was smiling, Ellie was obviously still very influenced by the things that had happened.

"Why don't you go wake up your brother, baby-girl, get dressed for the day," he kissed the top of her head. Ellie nodded and skipped off, making her way out of the living room.

"Jesus," Opie rubbed a large hand over his face, shaking his head.

"You okay?" Anna asked, worried. Something had obviously rattled the big man.

"Yeah, just realized the shit I'm in. Pretty sure my kids are still not handling all of this me-dying stuff," Opie sighed, looking at the door his daughter had just disappeared trough.

"Well, in their defense, the thought of someone so close to you coming this close to dying is enough to scare anyone, let alone kids that young," Anna answered.

"It's not that, I just think they hit rock bottom: their mother died, their grandfather who basically hung their moon died, their stepmother up's and leaves taking their stepbrother with her, and then their shithead of a father goes and barely survives prison," Anna's eyes were wide, she had not known that. No wonder Ellie was so hell-bent on thanking her every chance she got. Opie let himself fall back on his couch, sighing deeply.

"Wow, they've been through a lot," Anna noticed, putting the bowl of pancake mixture on the coffee table and sitting down next to him, a little shocked at the knowledge she has just acquired.

"Tell me about it," Opie sighed, they had indeed all had been through a lot "I just don't know what to do about it."

"Maybe they should talk to somebody?" Anna suggested and Opie looked at her kind of weirdly.

"Like a shrink, you mean?"

"Could help," Anna shrugged.

Jesus Christ! How on Earth did he let shit get so out of control? It was official, he just may be the worst kind of father alive, his kids needed goddamn therapy because of him, because of his club.

"It's not your fault, Ope. Seeing a psychiatrist isn't anything to be ashamed of, it doesn't mean they're crazy and it does NOTmean you're a bad father. It's just giving them a chance to talk about it, learn some ways to get over it all," Anna told him gently and he nodded, acknowledging her words.

"We'll see."

"Shit! My pancakes!" while talking to Opie she had totally forgotten the tiny fact of the pancake still baking in a pan. The smell of burning dough was a fast reminder, though. Anna was suddenly in panic-mode and rushed to the kitchen. Opie just shook his head and laughed.

Running a hand across his face, he stood up, he needed to take a piss, take a shower…and think about sending his kids to a shrink…

'Never a dull moment in the Winston-house' he thought while hearing Anna cursing up a storm at her burnt pancake.

* * *

**TBC….**

**Peeeep!**

**So many thanks for all the follows! I love every single one of you! Although I WAS a little disappointed by the lack of reviews…but oh well…**

**Next time we'll also visit the rest of the SOA-clan, so stay tuned!**


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